Do you have the tile....No, thought you had the tile??!

The projects around Casa Kahanek continue. Continuing to work on the wall mural. When I started I didn't know what it would be, but knew it would be something. I did know it would be an arched window. What goes on the mural is whatever strikes my fancy and what I feel like adding. Really, it's more like what I can paint that somewhat resembles something real since I'm neither an artista nor a person good with drawing. Terry does continue to tell me my sketching is better than my painting! LOL!

Sr. P. is managing the exterior painting and the tile work in the kitchen. I poured over paint colors, but put my final decision on the back burner for a few days since the tile project took precedence. Sr. P. showed up yesterday morning and measured the kitchen for the tile. In the meantime, I had used Adobe Illustrator (old school!) to design the project. We kept it simple since we are. We are keeping it Mexican traditional since we are. It took about an hour of measuring...that's because nothing is square...and the talavera tiles won't be exactly square either since they are each handmade. After about an hour of measuring we loaded up with Sr. P. and off we went to the NE part of town to buy the Talavera tile.

Along the way we stopped off so Sr. P. could put out a construction fire. His crew was working on a total renovation and they had no electricity to run the electric saw. Sr. P. piddled with the breaker box and called in Roberto to try starting up the saw. All was good! Remember....Sr. P. is the one that always gets us out of the gas tanque fixes!!!

We got to the tile place and were overwhelmed by the choice of design tiles, hecho in Puebla, that fit our criteria. They were all beautiful. I got excited when I got to tell my story, in Spanish, about "Mi Abuela". Nanny had grown up in Puebla while both her father and grandfather played a part in overseeing the building of the railroad system between the Gulf Coast and Mexico City in the early part of this century. The families had to eventually flee Mexico when the Mexican Revolution broke out. But, she remained a "Little Princess" for the rest of her life. As I always mention, I definitely feel a connection with her when I am SOB.

We enjoyed meeting all of the people at the tile place. And, were honored to have Sr. Rosel wait on us. He even gave us a discount...when Terry asked him if he would. Sr. P., one of the employees, and Terry loaded up the boxes of tile and back to La Ermita we came where we unloaded the tile and said "Hasta Luego" to Sr. P.  Terry and I started opening the boxes of tile with the intentions of laying out the tile in our design to get a good visual of how it is going to look.

But, where were the multi-colored design tiles we had labored over picking out?

Is seems everybody thought somebody else had picked them up and loaded them in the trunk. We had paid for them but had forgotten them at the tile place! I drew the short matchstick and had to brush up on my Spanish telephone etiquette and make the phone call. Yes, it was comical and it was high-pitched speaking, but I got the point across and they agreed to get them off the table a keep them for us when we will go pick them up on next Monday...the day Sr. P. will actually start laying the tile.

The "Before" of the kitchen

We spent the rest of the day going for a walk. We went to San Cristobal,  Mejorada, downtown and back home.

Saw this bicicleta graveyard during our walk.

We knocked on the door at Casa Terracita to see if we could meet up with Peter, a travel writer, Terry had sat with on the bus. No answer there. Later, we found out he had gone to see Dra. Cecilia Vasquez, the dentista we had recommended to him. He emailed and said he was ecstatic with her dental work, same as me.
Evening wine, breakfast for dinner, and to bed for reading, and dreaming of the tile we bought but don't have.

Progreso...The Joy of Giving

Friday was warm and sunny. Sr. P. showed up a little before 9am and we made arrangements for tiling the kitchen and painting the exterior of the house. Things start on Tuesday. 

Then, we caught the autobus to Progreso. In May, on our last trip to Progreso, we had bought a really nice hamaca from Antonio. We always admired his tenacity. Some might find it annoying, but we admired his selling skills. I mean, you will never, ever make a sale if you don't ask, right? Every trip to the beach he would stop by and say hello and ask us if we wanted to buy a hamaca. Every time our answer was the same: 

"No, not today, but tomorrow."

 Except for that last trip down there. On that day we bought a hamaca from him. We also promised to bring him back a pair of Nike tennis shoes, Size 6 from the Estados Unidos. He isn't a young man, but a size 6 US shoe is actually a youth size.

On Friday, Terry had those Nike size 6 tennis shoes in his backpack just waiting to run into Antonio as we knew we would. We walked down the malecon and slipped out of our flip flops, spread our towels, and turned on our music. We lied down feeling very fortunate. We had warmth, sunshine, and Jerry Jeff Walker. And later, a couple of cold Sols.

Would you believe the first vendor that stopped by was Antonio?! No kidding! He came walking down the beach, and stopped to ask us if we wanted to buy a hamaca. He didn't recognize us at first, but when Terry showed him the tennis shoes it all came back to him. He was so excited and put the tennis shoes on right away. They were a little tight, unfortunately, but he loved them. We don't know if he will be able to wear them, or will trade them for something else. He said he could stretch them. It doesn't matter. We had promised him the shoes and he was quite surprised that we brought them. He quickly took his hamacas off his back and told us to pick out one in exchange....any one we wanted....our choice. I went for the most colorful one that from the feel of it I could tell was the least well-made, and probably the least costly. The happiest deal on the beach that day in Progreso just took place! I don't know who was happiest over the simple joy of giving. We had some hugs and Antonio told us he loved us.

Antonio went on to say the cruise ship that was docked was from Obama. We are pretty sure he meant Alabama. He and the rest of the beach vendors were frustrated because he said all the cruisers got on tour buses at the far end of the dock and headed straight into Merida...never even stopping in Progreso or hanging at the beach. I do find it a little sad, both for the vendors and for the cruisers. We kept our beach day short since the sun was intense.

Pretty sure none of the cruisers felt the same Joy of Giving that we had experienced while on a simple outing at the beach in quaint Progreso.

Everythng from Tequila to Catavina

When we arrived at the house, the first thing we did was go through all the rooms and go to the patio to check things out. We were re-familiarizing ourselves with what we remembered and what we had forgotten. Did we have liquor or did we leave on our last trip un-stocked? Did the hot water heater work? How about the water tinaca? (that one was a "no") We looked in the armoire and realized both of us had left clothes we forgot we even had. We each traveled down with a backpack and a duffle bag, but realized the duffle bags with clothes was close to unnecessary to bring.

Tuesday morning we got up and did the once over outside....

"Let's get the exterior of the house painted this trip!"

The Comex paint store is closeby and Jaime who works there is so helpful in working with us to pick out the best products and mix the paints for us. I went to one of my favorite Mexican websites to get started. Yesterday I spent several hours pouring over virtual combinations of exterior paint colors. Right now the house is painted a Comex color called "azucar" (sugar). It is a "safe" color and the name of it is nice. It is appropriate since, after all, Merida is called "The White City" but I also have choices like "Tequila", "Playa del Carmen" and "Tomate"....even "Barbeque". And in Merida, we don't have to worry about an HOA. We have full discretion on what colors we use. I mean, the guy down the street painted his house while we were gone...it's Negro. Not to be judgemental, but with all the colors of the rainbow to choose from - how do you end up saying "l think I'll just paint mi casa black." That's kinda like painting it clear IMO. I like the idea of colors in the turquesa family...especially since the house on one side of us is a dark red and the city offices on the other side are a bright hacienda yellow. But I am struggling with an inner conflict - the name of the Comex colors are so intriguing that I find myself picking a color not because I find it pleasing to my eye, but because I like the way the name rolls off my tongue - colors like limonada, papagayo, paleta, aguazul, and catavina.
This paint picking thing reminds me of buying a new car. Once you drive it off the lot, you start seeing the identical car everywhere. Yesterday we walked through town and after Terry and I both said we liked many of the colors in the "green" and "turquesa" families, it seemed like every other house we saw was painted a bright turquoise.

Here is the fun link to the virtual exterior paint decorating page of Comex: 
http://www.comex.com.mx/workspace-decorador-virtual
Today, we're going to try and decide. Terry isn't too big of a help since #1 he is color blind to some degree and #2 he likes every color I show him. After we decide, I will make one of my infamous phone calls where my voice becomes extremely high-pitched as I speak Spanish, and arrange for the painters to come.
Mucha Felizidad!

Some Changes...but Mostly Not

We got up at 4:30 in the morning to load up the rental car and drive into Hobby. We arrived in Cancun yesterday about 12:30 and took the ADO bus from the aeropuerto to Cancun Centro...waited about 4.5 hours for the ADO bus from Cancun to Merida Centro. Arrived at the house about 11pm. It was a travel day for sure.

• Still like saving pesos. We waited 4 hrs. for a regular ADO bus rather than catch a more expensive GL or Platino bus. We sat and watched them leave every 30 minutes or so from the bus station direct to Merida.
• The manhole has been repaired. The Ker-plunk isn't quite as loud as it used to be when a car runs over the manhole in front of the house
• The police have set up a manned area in the parque de La Ermita as well as other parques in town
• The walk from ADO to the house is still a short one
• Walking into the house was as welcome a feel as usual
• The large structure (house?) being built over on Calle 66 is still large and still being built
• The hamacas are still relaxing
• Eggs are still bought unrefrigerated, are still golden yellow, and still taste like eggs should taste
• Fresh paint from last trip is slightly peeling
• The gas tanque still has gas
• The water tinaca has a slight problem and didn't cut off when it got full last night sounding like a summer rain shower until Terry woke up, cut off the water, and it spilled all the excess water out
• The city office is still next door and the employees still have smiles and still recognize us
• A house on Calle 75 has been painted and is for sale
• The bicycle taxi driver still asks if we want a ride and we still politely say no because we still need the exercise
• The washing machine still works
• The red house next door is still being renovated as it has been since before we bought our house
• Our amigo at the corner tienda is still working and still has a house for sale, and he still wants us to buy it
• We still get excited about everything - both old and new to us
• The pizza place on our corner and the paleteria next door are still in business
• The new economica on calle 66 has already closed down
• There is still confusion on my part about how Carneval 2014 is changing and how the parades will be routed. I'm still confused about whether they come by Parque San Juan and end just a couple of blocks from us or not
• Still want to paint and tile in the kitchen
• The horses and buggies still make their way down our calle to get to their downtown workplace
• We still get confused about which days are trash days and which days are water delivery days
• We still enjoy our morning coffee in bed
• We still like the politeness of the city
• We still walk the nine blocks to buy our groceries
• We still like La Ermita park and the adults, teens and small children that hang out there

Reminiscencias

Each time I open up a box and peek inside a new set of memories come flooding over me. It seems only fitting that I should find a book titled Reminiscencias when I opened up one of the last boxes.

For the past several weeks, Terry and I have been moving cosas from a pricey storage unit in Victoria, Tx to the new-to-us house in the country.  I say "pricey" storage because when you multiply $130/mo. by 6 years the cost to hang on to stuff was rather expensive. But how do you put a price on "knick knack paddy whacks"? That was what we started labeling every box 6 years ago when we ran out of words to describe the contents....we were numb from the excitement and stress of neatly packing our lives into cubic ft. containers in preparation for making our leap aboard S/V Cool Change.

 In the boxes, I've found envelopes with baby teeth meant for the tooth fairy, some of my favorite pictures of three of the most darling kids you could ever imagine, lots of printed, hand-written Mother's Day cards, and even a rock collection that at one time included a beautiful piece of amber we spent hours searching for in every rock shop west of Texas while vacatoning in Santa Fe, NM. But also amongst the normal items that make one look off into space and reminisce, I found a connection to Mexico long before we started our part-time living in Mexico. It was a book appropriately titled Reminiscencias, written by Jorge Santiago of Victoria, Tx.

The connection begins like this --- While in Merida, I always regretted missing "El Dia de Los Muertos"...The Day of the Dead. It may sound morbid to some, but it is the day set aside to honor the dead and celebrate their eternal spirit. Food plays a big part in the celebration when the deceased favorite foods are prepared and presented at the alters set aside for honoring them. I love the Catrina dolls associated with the the holiday. I see them all over Merida and they are one of my inspirations for painting. El Dia de Los Muertos is a National Holiday celebrated on November 1st and 2nd all over Mexico.

Back in the late 1990's I didn't have a clue I would regret missing out on "El Dia de Los Muertos" in Mexico in 2013. And, I never dreamed I would be remiscing about Jorge Santiago while sitting on the back patio in Merida, Mexico. You see, I had a huge fiasco on my professional hands when I refused to let Sr.  Santiago bring an exhibit into the lobby of the bank. He approached me wanting to put a "Dayof the Dead" exhibit directly in the middle of the bank lobby. He explained that the large community of Mexican descendants would love it, embrace it, and understand it. He thought it would be good for public relations. As the person responsible for making those types of judgement calls on behalf of the bank, I thought otherwise. "The Day of the Dead" sounded eerie, freaky, and morbid to me. Who wanted to come into a bank in South Texas to be greeted by a Celebration of Death? Well, it turned into a rather sticky situation. Mr. George Santiago was not happy with me. I had to use all of my charm, and muchos apologies, to keep from offending Mr. George Santiago. He took his case to Mr. G., CEO & Bank President, where he was told it was ultimately my area of expertise and thus, my decision...which really meant Mr. G would rather not get involved. So, Mr. Santiago and I sat at the conference table in the Marketing Dept. and discussed our differences of opinion. He gave me a thorough education on "The Day of the Dead", and I was a willing student. I didn't allow the exhibit in the lobby of the bank, but Mr. George Santiago and I became very good friends. We developed mutual respect for each other from that point forward. He brought me a "peace offering" of such - two books he had written. One  of them was titled Reminiscencias. Each time we would meet in the bank lobby we would embrace.
Reminiscencias by Sr. Jorge Santiago got packed up in a box labeled knick knack paddy whacks and I never thought about it until sitting in Merida this past trip where I did some reminiscing of my own about Sr. Santiago. And, I sat there and wondered if I still had the book packed away in storage. Then, yesterday I found it while unpacking and reminiscing about so many things...it's a collection of poems written in both English and Spanish...they are about love and lost love....very poignant. So this is to you, Sr. Jorge Santiago, for touching my life in a way I haven't come to appreciate until 12 years later -
The English version of "Incertidumbre"
"Uncertainty"
by Jorge Santiago

I thought to distance myself fast
and I went far away
having perplexed thoughts
and I made a foolish error.

Now I wanted to talk to her
but my honor got in the way.
With good counseling,
again I tried to forget her.

Then I heard she was still waiting for me.
But now the opportune time had passed.
This even discouraged me greatly.

"What can I do?" I questioned myself,
I wanted to be at her side fiercely,
but my foolish honor was prohibiting it.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              

Moving to The Country....El Campo

Nothing is ever permament. And all I have to say is thank goodness. Wouldn't life be boring if it was? Before we moved to Merida for the winter of 2012-2013, we put S/V Cool Change up for sale. The day we flew to Merida we sold Cool Change and said one last "Adios". A couple of days before, we had taken both vehicles to TexasDirectAuto and sold them. It happened so fast we forgot to stop at the credit union on our way to the airport (in our rented car) to deposit the two checks for the vehicles! Six months passed quickly and on May 23rd...our 26th Anniversary....we flew back to Texas and were faced with lots of decisions to make. One of the first things we did was buy a vehicle. Second, we had to find a place to live.

La Casa en El Campo

 

Visitors Welcome!

After looking at several apartments in Sugar Land, we found a nice complex just off of Hwy. 6 described as "upscale" and "a luxury property". We felt forturnate to have gotten th last one bedroom unit available, signed a 9 month lease and settled in. Would you believe we experienced a total of 3 break-ins within the next 2 weeks?!! Two break-ins were during the broad daylight hours. Within a matter of hours, we knew apartment living wasn't for us. I didn't feel like I was living amongst "people like me". Screw diversity! The rest of the country can feel all diverse and sensitive....I only like the smell of curry when I am in a restaurant to eat curry. I want people with a pioneer spirit around me. I want to live amongst people that grow gardens, eat beef for dinner, drive trucks, and enjoy fishing and hunting, and know how to sew and quilt. (We, personally, can grow a garden, own a truck now, fish, hunt, and eat beef.)
After living in the luxurious apartment for two months we put the apartment on Craig's List and had a bite to transfer it to a person who aspired to live luxuriously. The effective date for apartment transfer was set for Sept. 1st. And, we bought the perfect counry, Craftsman-style house of our dreams complete with a detached garage and mother-in-law suite (I use that term loosely). We did every thing possible to get the house deal closed quickly and get the heck out of the apartment. Sure enough, we bought and closed on the house within 16 days!
"And yes, you can move in the apartment early and no, we won't make you reimburse us for the remaining month's pro-rated rent....because we are that glad to be out of this luxury living complex!"
Now, we are getting settled into our new digs about 45 minutes away from Terry's workplace.
And, we love the fact that it is El Campo!..."the country" in Spanish. Isn't that a fitting name for a place to be if you aren't in Merida? We have some neighbors we enjoy speaking Spanish with, and we are talking about growing some garden plants. I am being very American and buying furniture and lots of other cosas.
We feel very much at home in El Campo! I am getting back in my groove and wanting to paint a large painting of Calle 64, complete with the arches, to hang over the mantel.

Memories of Caballeros and Calesas

I wrote the following post quite some time ago and saved it in my "Drafts". For some reason, I couldn't bring myself to publish it. Yesterday was a bittersweet Father's Day. To explain, Terry and I returned to Texas on May 23rd...our 26th Anniversary....and four days later on Memorial Day, Dad passed away at the age of 82. While in Merida,  we often talked about how the sound of horse hooves coming down the street would bring back a poignant memory of Dad after he was gone. It will be a while before we are in Merida with all the windows open and hear those horse hooves, but when we do I know we will both smile and have tears in our eyes at the same time. This morning I opened up an email from one of my brothers explaining that he had put some of Dad's buggies on CraigsList-Houston while Mom will be keeping a few of the special ones. I decided to publish this post. I love you, Dad!

A horse and buggy quickly passing by

Each morning, and sometimes in the afternoons, I hear the sound of horse hooves when the horse and buggy drivers round the corner just south of our house. I'm guessing they live on the edge of town somewhere down south, and travel up our street to get to Calle 60 where they all hang out waiting to take tourists and local folks on city tours. It doesn't pull at my heart strings when I see them downtown, but hearing them from inside the house and knowing they travel right in front of our house always makes me run to the window and wave at them when they come by. I know there are at least two different ones that come by...maybe more. I quit going outside to wave at them because they were stopping and asking me if I wanted a ride into Centro, and I was never prepared to go. Although, I keep saying one of these days I'm going to get dressed and wait for one to come by and I'm going to hop in. Shoot! I was so crazy about "the connection" I felt with one of them one day, I stopped him to tell him: "Mi padre es un caballero en Tejas y tiene calesas tambien". The caballero asked me if he lives on a ranchero. Si.

It pulls at my heartstrings because I get a little pang of homesickness every time I hear the horse hooves. It makes me wonder:

 "What are Mama and Daddy up to today?....I hope it's a pretty day in Anderson and they are out buggy riding."

I don't know when the last time Daddy climbed up on a horse may have been. I know it hasn't been too long ago. But when it got tough for him to horseback ride, he took up horses and buggies.  His third love after Mama and Dottie...and maybe the border collie Dixie falls in there.....so either third or fourth on the list would be Maude. Now that I think about it, Maude may be first! Now that I think about it more....I'm not even gonna go there.


Dad and Maude

Most people reading this know Maude, but to explain to anybody that may not know her - Maude is Dad's Amish-trained buggy-pulling horse. I don't think I know exactly how he made the contacts and found Maude. Since he loves searching on his laptop, I'm guessing it was via the internet. She was either in Iowa or Ohio. She's the envy of anybody that sees her when she's out pulling one of his buggies. And Maude is the most photogenic horse I've ever seen. All you have to do is pull out a camera and she'll stop, stand at attention, and look straight into the camera. She'll keep a perfect stance until you let her know you're through taking her picture. It doesn't matter if she's in the middle of a parade or out in the pasture. She and Dad did quite well at a buggy trial he entered. It was set up somewhat like an obstacle course with cones, water hazards, sharp turns, and markers where he had to stop Maude on a dime.  I don't think he'll enter into another competition though because they made him take off his western hat and wear a riding helmet. He wasn't real happy about that.

So, when I'm in Anderson it makes me homesick for caballeros and calesas in Merida, and when I'm in Merida I get homesick for Dad/Mom, cowboys and buggies. What the heck! 

Amish buggy.....Mom, Dad and Little Sister Dottie